The news NY Giants fans had been waiting on finally arrived with the addition of Greg Van Roten for the offensive line. Van Roten started all 17 games for the Las Vegas Raiders last season and now the guard is being reunited with both Carmen Bricllo and Jermaine Eluemunor.
With Van Roten now in the fold, Eluemunor will surely stick to the outside at right tackle, taking the spot of injured former first-round pick Evan Neal. With Eluemunor saying goodbye to left guard, surely that means Van Roten is the new projected LG for Brian Daboll, right? Not so fast.
This offseason, a major signing was the one of Jon Runyan Jr. He's been at right guard since OTAs, but his more natural position is LG. Shortly after the Van Roten update broke, Daboll has decided to let the former Packer get snaps at the position he's clearly more comfortable with:
Don’t think it’s a coincidence that Runyan’s first reps at LG came in the first practice after the Van Roten signing https://t.co/zSrzF52DVz
— Dan Duggan (@DDuggan21) July 30, 2024
Jon Runyan Jr. should be the new starting left guard for the NY Giants
The Athletic's Charlotte Carroll is already reporting that Runyan is getting snaps at left guard. This is a move people could have seen from a mile away. Runyan is a beast at the position and Van Roten can simply slide over to right guard.
For now, the projected offensive line is looking like, from left to right, Andrew Thomas, Runyan, John Michael Schmitz, Van Roten and Eluemunor. That's a quite different group from what we saw in 2023, which is obviously a good thing.
Last campaign, the Giants gave up a league-worst 85 sacks, which was totally inexcusable. It led to Bobby Johnson being fired and Bricillo being brought in. It has also led to Runyan, Eluemunor and now Van Roten being signed.
From our chair, Runyan sticking at left guard makes way too much sense for this team. Look for him to get more snaps there throughout camp, especially with the preseason sneaking up on us.